Useful space is at a premium within an aircraft. In order to maximize the amount of useful space, aircraft engineers have attempted to relocate certain storage areas, such as fuel storage areas, to areas that are not as versatile or useful for other purposes, such as cargo storage. An example of such an area is directly below the aircraft fuselage. One consequence of redeploying fuel tanks has been a need to redesign the shape of the tank to fit the new space. While tanks can be manufactured in virtually any shape, monitoring the amount of fuel remaining in a tank that does not have a simple geometric shape is not easy. Typically, an increase in the number of level sensors used per tank is required.
Referring to FIGS. 1A-1E, an ordinary rectangular tank is shown including a single centrally located gauge. FIG. 1A shows the tank and fuel relationship when the aircraft using the tank is flying level. FIG. 1B shows the tank and fuel relationship when the aircraft is rolling to the right and FIG. 1C shows the relationship when the aircraft is rolling to the left. FIG. 1D shows the tank and fuel relationship when the aircraft is pitching forward while FIG. 1E shows the relationship when the aircraft is pitching rearward. In all of the aforementioned instances, a single fuel sensor, centrally located, effectively measures the fuel level existing within the tank.